Finally SLEEP

Finally SLEEP

After enduring a year of getting up in the night, I am finally getting a full nights sleep. If you have been a parent to a child who wakes in the night, you will understand why I am so happy to sleep without any interruption. I was very lucky throughout our first year that despite the waking, Oliver wasn’t an early riser. Never have I had to get up at 6am (or earlier) and we often slept in till 9 or later.

When Oliver was around 12 weeks old he started sleeping through. We thought we had it made, how perfect! How naive more like, and at about 16 weeks the frequent night waking began. The dreaded four month sleep regression is most certainly a real thing.  But we rode it out and I dealt with the night time waking.  I always said I didn’t want to sleep train Oliver, and I think he just needed his own time to work sleep out and when he did it would be when he wanted to.

For the past three of four months Oliver has only been waking once a night which was a good improvement on the two or three wake up calls I had previously. I easily fed him back to sleep and all in all we would be up for about 10 minutes maximum. But those 10 minutes of waking every night was tiring when the morning came. I had tried to stop him waking, leaving him to whine a bit longer before I went in, even trying to send Stu in in my place (this sent Oliver straight into meltdown!). But nothing had worked.

On Oliver’s first birthday he finally did the one thing I had dreamt of for months, he slept through. It was like a little present back to me!  I thought it was a fluke, but every night since (bar one – damn teething) he has slept through.  I feel like a new woman!  However, a full nights sleep does come with its drawbacks. I’m now having to get up at 7am, something I haven’t done in a very, very long time!  I suppose at least it’s preparing me for the even earlier starts I will have for work when I go back next week.

Along with a full nights sleep, Oliver will happily go to sleep independently.  Since he was about 6 months old, the only way we could get him to sleep was by lying with him.  Now I give him a feed and pop him in the cot, turn the light out and he goes straight to sleep.  It’s such a weight lifted and has given me my evenings back!

The one thing I have learnt from our journey with sleep is that you’ve just got to ride it out.  Do what works for you, and they will get there eventually.  It may take a week, it may take a year, but you will make it through.

Did your child sleep well or did you try every trick in the book to help them get there?

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15 Comments

  1. February 23, 2017 / 10:55 am

    I’ve almost forgotten what interrupted sleep is like (being that all mine are at school now) but I basically probably got woken regularly every night for 5 years (3 kids). It is so refreshing when everyone finally starts sleeping through. Sarah #sharingthebloglove

  2. February 23, 2017 / 1:14 pm

    We’re (I think!) coming out the other side of the delightful sleep regression, but 6am is Dougies wake up time, no matter what I do! I know what you mean, even just waking up once in the night leaves you feeling exhausted the next day! I’m so glad it’s all going well for you!

  3. February 23, 2017 / 10:53 pm

    Wow, it’s such a great feeling when your little one starts to sleep through the night. Life is suddenly bearable again 🙂
    My last little boy was a great sleeper – so long as you were cuddling him. Put him down and there was no stopping him crying. As there were older ones and no sleep wasn’t an option he usually ended up in our bed. I was very glad when he grew out of that habit.
    #sharingthebloglove

  4. February 24, 2017 / 12:20 pm

    Yay, great that you are getting more sleep and have got past it. We too here had a great sleeper the second time around and until 16 weeks hit, the sleep regression and start of rolling and it has taken 2 years to get to a point where we are ‘mostly’ sleeping through. I think we have nightmares here too which doesnt help but it is by far the hardest part of parenting and so nice to get some sleep. x

  5. February 24, 2017 / 12:20 pm

    Yay, great that you are getting more sleep and have got past it. We too here had a great sleeper the second time around and until 16 weeks hit, the sleep regression and start of rolling and it has taken 2 years to get to a point where we are ‘mostly’ sleeping through. I think we have nightmares here too which doesn’t help but it is by far the hardest part of parenting and so nice to get some sleep. x #SharingtheBlogLove

  6. February 24, 2017 / 12:21 pm

    Oh, I’m so pleased for you! You must be over the moon! Max was an ‘at least twice a night for a feed’ kind of guy until 8 months, but thankfully he was always pretty easy to settle after that. At 8 months he dropped the night feed and started sleeping through and I thought it was amazing! Until 11 months when separation anxiety kicked in, and then I couldn’t put him to sleep without him still needing to hold onto my hand (and kind of maul it at the same time!), and he’d start waking and crying repeatedly through the night, taking over an hour to settle each time. I looked back on those days of two night feeds and done and thought how lucky I was! But he finally came out of that phase at around 14 months and since then he’s been ok (bar the odd period of teething / illness) Lack of sleep I think is the thing I’ve struggled with most as a parent – I think you have no idea how difficult it is to get through until you’re there in the thick of it. Thanks for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove

  7. February 25, 2017 / 11:19 am

    Wow, go Oliver, long may it last! My eldest is a great sleeper, the majority of nights but my 2 year old… well let’s just say I’m very very grateful that I have a fabulous husband who let’s me have a lie in to recover! #fortheloveofBLOG

  8. February 25, 2017 / 2:59 pm

    This has just given me hope for my 10 month old, as I’m due at work in April and have no idea how I’ll cope with the constant night wakings.
    He’s never been a full night sleeper and a month ago we stopped his nighttime milk as he’s getting plenty to eat during the day.
    Now he’s on the move he’s taken to sitting up or standing up in his cot between 2-3am and cries and cries until we get him. Then it takes about an hour of soothing, putting back down etc. We are both exhausted, especially my poor hubby who gets up at 5am.
    We have a 2 year old toddler who slept really well from 3 months except for waking for her lost dummy now and then. But some nights it’s both of them waking up and one of them always wakes early. Doing my head in!!
    The only hope I’m holding out for is that we’re moving house in April and he’ll finally have his own room. But like you say, maybe it’s something he’ll just figure out when he’s ready. I just hope it’s soon!! Well done on getting through a year of sleep deprivation and good luck with the return to work xx

  9. February 25, 2017 / 9:11 pm

    Yay! So happy for you! Having a full nights sleep was the dream and I honestly didn’t think it would happen!! It happened at 9 1/2 months for us and I made me into a new woman! All that sleep?! I couldn’t believe it!! I never take it for granted but is it possible to love them more when you look at the clock and see that it’s morning? Haha!!

    Best of luck in your first few days back at work. Looking forward to hearing how you get on. It’s a strange time but also an exciting new chapter! Xx

  10. February 25, 2017 / 11:00 pm

    Fingers crossed it continues! Well done Oliver (please can he tell my 3 how to do it :-)) xx #fortheloveofBLOG

  11. February 27, 2017 / 12:53 pm

    I know that feeling to finally get an uninterrupted night sleep, it is amazing. Hope you continue to get more x
    #FortheloveofBLOG

  12. February 28, 2017 / 1:44 pm

    Yay for sleep!My eldest daughter slept through from 4 months old. But my youngest took until 17 months. For the last part she would just wake up once. Having no sleep is definitely the hardest part of parenting. Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove

  13. March 2, 2017 / 7:09 am

    I completely agree with you on sleep, you just need to ride it out. The four months sleep regression is painful, we, or I endured it for 3 months before doing some sleep training. Eventually it got better and at 10 months our daughter was sleeping through the night. It’s tough, but it’s not forever. Thanks so much for linking up at #fortheloveofBLOG. Claire x

  14. March 7, 2017 / 2:44 pm

    Enjoy a full night of sleep now because once he’s a teenager you’ll sleep with one eye open.

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